Uummannaq Island
Encyclopedia
Uummannaq Island is a small (12 km2) island in the Qaasuitsup
municipality in northwestern Greenland
. Located in the south-central part of the Uummannaq Fjord
, it is home to the most prominent mountain on the Arctic coast
of western Greenland, and to Uummannaq
, the largest town north of Ilulissat
.
The island is separated from Nuussuaq Peninsula
in the southwest by Sarqarput Strait
in the southern arm of Uummannaq Fjord. In the east, the island is separated from the Salliaruseq Island
by the wide Assorput Strait
. To the north, the central arm of Uummannaq Fjord separates it from the large Appat Island
and the skerries
of Saattut
.
, with a handful of small, rocky bay
s primarily in the southermost, inhabited part. The only significant bay is Qasigissat on the southwestern shore. The weakly indented Iterlak bay is located on the northwestern coast of the island. The sea is the only means of transport to the uninhabited northern part of the island.
and Royal Greenland
, as well as motorboats and lesser fishing boats. There are several small bays between the port and Nuussuatsiaq promontory, in the vicinity of the heliport.
Fishermen of Uummannaq town peruse the entire southern coast for anchorage of smaller fishing boats and motorboats. Outside the urbanized part of the island there are several inlets and cove
s providing protection for fishing nets and, in the summer, dogsleds
. During summertime, a small and otherwise economically uninteresting skerry in Qasigissat Bay is used as an observation point for marine life, particularly fish schools
migrating alongside the coast.
. Pipes laid on the ground carry potable water
from the lake to the central waterworks installation.
.
of folded granite
hills, dotted with tiny ponds. The plateau falls into the surrounding waters with steep cliffs crevassed with couloir
s. The northeastern coast under the walls of the mountain features a large cone of loose scree
. Movement on the outskirts of the interior is restricted to mountaineering
.
entirely dominates the landscape of the island, its base occupying its entire northern half. Formed of granite and basement gneiss
, it is the most prominent mountain in the Arctic
part of the west coast of Greenland. The mountain is a landmark of Greenland and a tourist magnet, often reproduced in art.
The mountain has two summits of similar height (the eastern summit being the higher), hence the name Uummannaq, Greenlandic for heart-shaped. Deep chimneys fall to the south and the north from the col
between the western and eastern summits. Its eastern wall has no significant depressions, falling in a uniform cliff into Assorput Strait between Uummannaq Island and Salliaruseq Island.
has its regional helicopter
hub on the island, serving all settlements in the region. Several daily helicopter flights link the island with the nearby Qaarsut Airport
on Nuussuaq Peninsula, from where STOL
connections are available to Upernavik
, Sisimiut
, Ilulissat
and further to central and southern Greenland.
had provided ferry services from Nuuk
to Upernavik, calling at Uummannaq, Ilulissat
, and Aasiaat
within the Qaasuitsup municipality. M/S Sarpik Ittuk−which serviced Disko Bay
, Uummannaq Fjord and the Upernavik Archipelago
−was sold in 2006 to Nova Cruising, a company from The Bahamas
. Since then the ferry services of AUL are available only southwards from Ilulissat, operated with the remaining ship, M/S Sarfaq Ittuk.
The cargo
/passenger boat Pajuttaat of Royal Arctic Line
links Uummannaq with Upernavik. Individual transport and sightseeing boats can be chartered from the Uummannaq Tourist Service. The island is often visited by cruise ships, such as Norway
's Hurtigruten
.
Qaasuitsup
Qaasuitsup is a new municipality in Greenland, operational from 1 January 2009. As of January 2010 its population is 17,749. The administrative center of the municipality is in Ilulissat...
municipality in northwestern Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
. Located in the south-central part of the Uummannaq Fjord
Uummannaq Fjord
Uummannaq Fjord is a large fjord system in the northern part of western Greenland, the largest after Kangertittivaq fjord in eastern Greenland...
, it is home to the most prominent mountain on the Arctic coast
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...
of western Greenland, and to Uummannaq
Uummannaq
Uummannaq is a town in the Qaasuitsup municipality, in northwestern Greenland. With 1,299 inhabitants as of 2010, it is the eleventh-largest town in Greenland, and is home to the country's most northerly ferry terminal...
, the largest town north of Ilulissat
Ilulissat
Ilulissat is a town in the Qaasuitsup municipality in western Greenland, located approximately north of the Arctic Circle. With the population of 4,546 as of 2010, it is the third-largest settlement in Greenland, after Nuuk and Sisimiut....
.
The island is separated from Nuussuaq Peninsula
Nuussuaq Peninsula
Nuussuaq Peninsula is a large peninsula in western Greenland.- Geography :The waters around the peninsula are that of Baffin Bay. To the south and southwest the peninsula is bounded by Disko Bay, an inlet of Baffin Bay. It is separated from Qeqertarsuaq Island by Sullorsuaq Strait which...
in the southwest by Sarqarput Strait
Sarqarput Strait
Sarqarput Strait is a strait in the Uummannaq Fjord system in northwestern Greenland. It separates Uummannaq Island in the northeast from Nuussuaq Peninsula in the southwest. The strait waterway is part of the southern arm of Uummannaq Fjord, narrowing into Ikerasak Fjord in the southeast, at the...
in the southern arm of Uummannaq Fjord. In the east, the island is separated from the Salliaruseq Island
Salliaruseq Island
Salliaruseq Island is an uninhabited island in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland. At , it is one of the larger islands in the Uummannaq Fjord system, located in its central part due east of Uummannaq Island...
by the wide Assorput Strait
Assorput Strait
Assorput Strait is a strait in the Uummannaq Fjord system in northwestern Greenland. It separates Uummannaq Island in the west from Salliaruseq Island in the east...
. To the north, the central arm of Uummannaq Fjord separates it from the large Appat Island
Appat Island
Appat Island is an uninhabited island in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland. At , it is one of the larger islands in the Uummannaq Fjord system, located in its north-central part....
and the skerries
Skerry
A skerry is a small rocky island, usually defined to be too small for habitation. It may simply be a rocky reef. A skerry can also be called a low sea stack....
of Saattut
Saattut
Saattut is a settlement in the Qaasuitsup municipality, in northwestern Greenland, Located on a small Saattut Island, southeast of Appat Island and northeast of Uummannaq in the Uummannaq Fjord system, the settlement had 212 inhabitants in 2010.- Transport :Air Greenland serves the village as part...
.
Map of the island
Coast
The island has a very undeveloped coastCoast
A coastline or seashore is the area where land meets the sea or ocean. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the dynamic nature of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs...
, with a handful of small, rocky bay
Bay
A bay is an area of water mostly surrounded by land. Bays generally have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some waves and often reducing winds. Bays also exist as an inlet in a lake or pond. A large bay may be called a gulf, a sea, a sound, or a bight...
s primarily in the southermost, inhabited part. The only significant bay is Qasigissat on the southwestern shore. The weakly indented Iterlak bay is located on the northwestern coast of the island. The sea is the only means of transport to the uninhabited northern part of the island.
Harbours
The Uummannaq port occupies a small inlet in the southeastern end of the island. It is not deep enough to service large cruise ships, but sufficiently deep to handle supply and fishing ships of Royal Arctic LineRoyal Arctic Line
Royal Arctic Line A/S or Royal Arctic is a freight company in Greenland, formed in 1992 and headquartered in Nuuk. It has 650 employees and is owned by the Government of Greenland...
and Royal Greenland
Royal Greenland
Royal Greenland A/S is a fishing company in Greenland. The company operates in a number of towns and settlements in Greenland, with 20 fish processing plants and ship bases of local subsidiary units...
, as well as motorboats and lesser fishing boats. There are several small bays between the port and Nuussuatsiaq promontory, in the vicinity of the heliport.
Fishermen of Uummannaq town peruse the entire southern coast for anchorage of smaller fishing boats and motorboats. Outside the urbanized part of the island there are several inlets and cove
Cove
A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. They usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often inside a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are often considered coves...
s providing protection for fishing nets and, in the summer, dogsleds
Dog sled
A dog sled is a sled pulled by one or more sled dogs used to travel over ice and through snow. Numerous types of sleds are used, depending on their function. They can be used for dog sled racing.-History:...
. During summertime, a small and otherwise economically uninteresting skerry in Qasigissat Bay is used as an observation point for marine life, particularly fish schools
Shoaling and schooling
In biology, any group of fish that stay together for social reasons are said to be shoaling , and if, in addition, the group is swimming in the same direction in a coordinated manner, they are said to be schooling . In common usage, the terms are sometimes used rather loosely...
migrating alongside the coast.
Promontories
| Name | |Location | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uitlut | Western Cape | ||
| Tuunerit | Northern Cape | 70°44′00"N 52°09′05"W | |
| Nuussuatsiaq | Eastern Cape | 70°41′33"N 52°05′52"W | |
| (none) | Southern Cape | 70°40′19"N 52°07′40"W | The southern part of the island is urbanized, with the rocky southern cape overlooked by the houses dotting the entire southern coast |
Lakes
There are two significant lakes on the island: Tasersuaq lake, and the Blue Lake. There are also several tiny ponds on the plateau, south of Uummannaq Mountain.Blue Lake
The Blue Lake is located in a depression of the south-central plateau, at approximately 70°41′34"N 52°07′25"W, to the north of the football pitchAssociation football pitch
An association football pitch is the playing surface for the game of association football made of turf. Its dimensions and markings are defined by Law 1 of the Laws of the Game, "The Field of Play".All line markings on the pitch form part of the area which they define...
. Pipes laid on the ground carry potable water
Drinking water
Drinking water or potable water is water pure enough to be consumed or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry is all of drinking water standard, even though only a very small proportion is actually...
from the lake to the central waterworks installation.
Tasersuaq
Tasersuaq (Greenlandic for large lake) is the largest lake situated in the southern part of the island, at approximately 70°40′50"N 52°08′00"W. It is surrounded by small hills from the west and south, and by taller cliffs of the plateau from the east and north. The northernmost houses in Uummannaq are located due west of the lake. Tasersuaq is the main water reservoir serving Uummannaq town, with pipe waterworks leading southwards through a deep gullyGully
A gully is a landform created by running water, eroding sharply into soil, typically on a hillside. Gullies resemble large ditches or small valleys, but are metres to tens of metres in depth and width...
.
Interior
The entire island is rocky, with the southern half progressively rising in altitude in the northern direction, towards the Uummannaq Twin Peaks mountain. The area south of the geographical center of the island is a plateauPlateau
In geology and earth science, a plateau , also called a high plain or tableland, is an area of highland, usually consisting of relatively flat terrain. A highly eroded plateau is called a dissected plateau...
of folded granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
hills, dotted with tiny ponds. The plateau falls into the surrounding waters with steep cliffs crevassed with couloir
Couloir
A couloir is a narrow gully with a steep gradient in a mountainous terrain. A couloir may be a seam, scar, or fissure, or vertical crevasse in an otherwise solid mountain mass...
s. The northeastern coast under the walls of the mountain features a large cone of loose scree
Scree
Scree, also called talus, is a term given to an accumulation of broken rock fragments at the base of crags, mountain cliffs, or valley shoulders. Landforms associated with these materials are sometimes called scree slopes or talus piles...
. Movement on the outskirts of the interior is restricted to mountaineering
Mountaineering
Mountaineering or mountain climbing is the sport, hobby or profession of hiking, skiing, and climbing mountains. While mountaineering began as attempts to reach the highest point of unclimbed mountains it has branched into specialisations that address different aspects of the mountain and consists...
.
Uummannaq Mountain
Uummannaq MountainUummannaq (mountain)
Uummannaq is a high, prominent, isolated mountain in northwestern Greenland, located on the small Uummannaq Island in the central part of the Uummannaq Fjord. It entirely dominates the landscape of the island, its base occupying its entire northern half. Formed of granite and basement gneiss, it...
entirely dominates the landscape of the island, its base occupying its entire northern half. Formed of granite and basement gneiss
Gneiss
Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks.-Etymology:...
, it is the most prominent mountain in the Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
part of the west coast of Greenland. The mountain is a landmark of Greenland and a tourist magnet, often reproduced in art.
The mountain has two summits of similar height (the eastern summit being the higher), hence the name Uummannaq, Greenlandic for heart-shaped. Deep chimneys fall to the south and the north from the col
Mountain pass
A mountain pass is a route through a mountain range or over a ridge. If following the lowest possible route, a pass is locally the highest point on that route...
between the western and eastern summits. Its eastern wall has no significant depressions, falling in a uniform cliff into Assorput Strait between Uummannaq Island and Salliaruseq Island.
Settlement
The only settlement on the island is Uummannaq town, one of the cultural centers of northwestern Greenland. The town occupies approximately 10% of the island area, concentrated around the southern tip of the island.Air
The island is well connected with the rest of Greenland. Air GreenlandAir Greenland
Air Greenland A/S is the flag carrier airline of Greenland, jointly owned by the government of Greenland, the SAS Group, and the government of Denmark...
has its regional helicopter
Helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by one or more engine-driven rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally...
hub on the island, serving all settlements in the region. Several daily helicopter flights link the island with the nearby Qaarsut Airport
Qaarsut Airport
Qaarsut Airport is an airport in Qaarsut, a settlement on the Nuussuaq Peninsula in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland. It is a primary airport with a gravel runway, capable of serving STOL aircraft of Air Greenland in all seasons...
on Nuussuaq Peninsula, from where STOL
STOL
STOL is an acronym for short take-off and landing, a term used to describe aircraft with very short runway requirements.-Definitions:There is no one accepted definition of STOL and many different definitions have been used by different authorities and nations at various times and for a myriad of...
connections are available to Upernavik
Upernavik
Upernavik is a small town in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland, located on a small island of the same name. With 1,129 inhabitants as of 2010, it is the thirteenth-largest town in Greenland. Due to the small size of the settlement, everything is within walking distance...
, Sisimiut
Sisimiut
Sisimiut is a town in central-western Greenland, located on the coast of Davis Strait, approximately north of Nuuk. It is the administrative center of the Qeqqata Municipality and the second-largest town in Greenland, with a population of 5,460 people as of 2010. The site of the present-day town...
, Ilulissat
Ilulissat
Ilulissat is a town in the Qaasuitsup municipality in western Greenland, located approximately north of the Arctic Circle. With the population of 4,546 as of 2010, it is the third-largest settlement in Greenland, after Nuuk and Sisimiut....
and further to central and southern Greenland.
Sea
Until 2006, Arctic Umiaq LineArctic Umiaq Line
Arctic Umiaq Line A/S or Arctic Umiaq is a passenger and freight line in Greenland. Its name derives from the Greenlandic word for a traditional Inuit boat, the umiaq. The sea connection provided by Arctic Umiaq is a lifeline for the entire western and southwestern Greenland...
had provided ferry services from Nuuk
Nuuk
Nuuk, is the capital of Greenland, the northernmost capital in North America and the largest city in Greenland. Located in the Nuup Kangerlua fjord, the city lies on the eastern shore of the Labrador Sea and on the west coast of Sermersooq. Nuuk is the largest cultural and economic center in...
to Upernavik, calling at Uummannaq, Ilulissat
Ilulissat
Ilulissat is a town in the Qaasuitsup municipality in western Greenland, located approximately north of the Arctic Circle. With the population of 4,546 as of 2010, it is the third-largest settlement in Greenland, after Nuuk and Sisimiut....
, and Aasiaat
Aasiaat
Aasiaat is a town in the Qaasuitsup municipality in western Greenland. Located in the heart of Aasiaat Archipelago at the southern end of Disko Bay. With a population of 3,005 as of 2010, it is Greenland's fifth-largest town.-Etymology:...
within the Qaasuitsup municipality. M/S Sarpik Ittuk−which serviced Disko Bay
Disko Bay
Disko Bay is a bay on the western coast of Greenland. The bay constitutes a wide southeastern inlet of Baffin Bay.- Geography :To the south the coastline is complicated with multiple waterways of skerries and small islands in the Aasiaat archipelago...
, Uummannaq Fjord and the Upernavik Archipelago
Upernavik Archipelago
Upernavik Archipelago is a vast archipelago of small islands in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland, on the coast of northeastern Baffin Bay...
−was sold in 2006 to Nova Cruising, a company from The Bahamas
The Bahamas
The Bahamas , officially the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, is a nation consisting of 29 islands, 661 cays, and 2,387 islets . It is located in the Atlantic Ocean north of Cuba and Hispaniola , northwest of the Turks and Caicos Islands, and southeast of the United States...
. Since then the ferry services of AUL are available only southwards from Ilulissat, operated with the remaining ship, M/S Sarfaq Ittuk.
The cargo
Cargo
Cargo is goods or produce transported, generally for commercial gain, by ship, aircraft, train, van or truck. In modern times, containers are used in most intermodal long-haul cargo transport.-Marine:...
/passenger boat Pajuttaat of Royal Arctic Line
Royal Arctic Line
Royal Arctic Line A/S or Royal Arctic is a freight company in Greenland, formed in 1992 and headquartered in Nuuk. It has 650 employees and is owned by the Government of Greenland...
links Uummannaq with Upernavik. Individual transport and sightseeing boats can be chartered from the Uummannaq Tourist Service. The island is often visited by cruise ships, such as Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
's Hurtigruten
Hurtigruten
Hurtigruten or Hurtigruta is a Norwegian passenger and freight line with daily sailings along Norway's western and northern coast. Sometimes referred to in English as Norwegian Coastal Express, Hurtigruten ships sail almost the entire length of the country, completing the roundtrip journey in 11...
.